Gomez scores from first on bunt and Nady’s throwing error, Brewers beat Cubs 5-4 in 10th

Brewers beat Cubs 5-4 in 10 innings on wild throw

MILWAUKEE — Carlos Gomez raced home from first base on a sacrifice bunt and throwing error in the 10th inning, giving the Milwaukee Brewers a wild 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.

Gomez pinch-hit and drew a leadoff walk from Bob Howry (1-1). Craig Counsell followed with a bunt and the speedy Gomez rounded second base and just kept going. First baseman Xavier Nady’s frantic throw to third sailed wild, allowing Gomez to score.

Milwaukee’s Corey Hart hit his NL-leading 16th homer in the second inning — ignoring the roar of the Navy Blue Angels, who are in town for a weekend air show and were flying over Miller Park.

Nady, filling in on a day off for Derrek Lee, hit a two-run homer.

John Axford (3-1) pitched the 10th for the win.

Cubs starter Ryan Dempster turned in his shortest outing of the season, giving up three runs and walking five in 5 1-3 innings. He came into Thursday’s game with 13 career wins over the Brewers, including four straight.

Brewers starter Dave Bush went six innings, giving up four runs and six hits. He added an RBI single in the fourth.

It was a tough finish to a trying road trip for Chicago. After 10 games on the road, including a pair of trips to Pittsburgh because of a rainout, the Cubs now return to Wrigley Field to face the White Sox in a three-game series beginning Friday.

With the Cubs leading 4-3 and two outs in the sixth, rookie shortstop Starlin Castro made a costly throwing error on Jim Edmonds’ fairly routine ground ball. Reliever Tom Gorzelanny walked Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder, and manager Lou Piniella brought in Jeff Stevens to face Ryan Braun.

Braun, who was 0 for 10 in the series to that point, briefly called time as the Blue Angels jets once again roared overhead. Stevens then walked him, scoring a run and tying it at 4.

Casey McGehee, who also appeared to be distracted by the screaming jets, then struck out with the bases loaded, slamming his bat to the ground.

Earlier, the Brewers took a 3-2 lead on a crazy play in the fifth.

With runners on first and second and one out, McGehee grounded out and the Cubs caught Fielder in a rundown between first and second base.

With Fielder running back and forth, Weeks ran to third and broke for home, only to get caught in a rundown himself. But with Weeks charging home, the throw from Chad Tracy was low and trickled away from catcher Geovany Soto just as Weeks collided with him — and Weeks was ruled safe while Tracy was charged with an error.

Nady hit a two-run homer to left off Bush in the sixth, giving the Cubs a 4-3 lead.

NOTES: Cubs radio announcer Ron Santo felt ill before the game and went home instead of calling Thursday’s game, according to a team spokesman. … Castro has made eight errors in 31 games this season. … Edmonds made a surprising appearance as the Brewers’ leadoff hitter.